Legal expert identifies an ominous 'tragedy' that the Supreme Court has inflicted upon itself
Speaking on MSNBC this Friday, legal analyst Joyce Vance commented on the potential for the Supreme Court to overturn other rulings that guarantee rights such as contraception and same-sex marriage in the wake of its ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.
According to Vance, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been outspoken for some time regarding his desire to see other past rulings revisited.
"He has this notion that all of these substantive rights that are derived from the right to privacy are vulnerable, that none of them should continue to stand," Vance said.
Later in the segment, Vance said that she doesn't think the country benefits from a "highly politicized Supreme Court that waffles back and forth on issues based on whims."
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"That's the tragedy -- one of the tragedies -- of this opinion today is that it destabilizes the Court," she said.
"Justice Sotomayor wrote in connection with cases being decided on the shadow docket: 'Can the court survive this stench?' That's a problem here. Do we have a future court that restores rights? Then it's just like watching a ping-pong game going back and forth. That can't be what the rule of law means in this country," Vance explained.
The new opinion shredded the 1973 ruling by the nation's highest court that said women had the right to abortion based on the constitutional right to privacy over their own bodies.
Alito's opinion largely mirrors his draft opinion that was the subject of an extraordinary leak in early May, sparking demonstrations around the country and tightened security at the court in downtown Washington.
READ MORE: Legal analyst warns the Supreme Court has just unleashed ‘legal chaos’
In the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said "abortion presents a profound moral issue on which Americans hold sharply conflicting views.
"The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion," he said.
Dissenting were the three liberals on the court.
The ruling will likely set into motion a cavalcade of new laws in roughly half of the 50 US states that will severely restrict or outright ban and criminalize abortions, forcing women to travel long distances to states that still permit the procedure.
Watch the video below or at this link.
With additional reporting by AFP
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